Two of the four top seeded U.S. college basketball teams, Kentucky and Texas, advanced easily in their respective regions in the first round of the national championship tournament, otherwise marked Friday by upsets and near misses.

Also in the Midwest, second-seed Pittsburgh rolled to an 87-61 win over Wagner, and seventh-seed Indiana topped 10th-seed Alabama, 67-62, on a game decided in the closing seconds.

In the South Region, the Texas Longhorns scored an 82-61 win over North Carolina-Asheville. Meanwhile, the defending national champion and sixth-seed Maryland Terrapins narrowly escaped elimination, slipping past 11th-seed North Carolina-Wilmington, 75-73, on a three-point shot by Drew Nicholas at the buzzer.